Maddy Parish, 8, steadied her point-and-shoot camera and took pictures of a young alligator before it slid off a log into the murky waters. Her grandparents, Gary and Carol Parish, recently traveled from their home in New Waverly, Texas, north of Houston, to this lake about 8 miles east of Lafayette, to go on a swamp tour with Marcus de la Houssaye, a tour guide who lives in Carencro.

“We thought it’d be good to take our granddaughter on a swamp tour since she likes animals,” Gary Parish said. “We wanted to see what it’s like in real life and not just on TV.”

Lake Martin technically isn’t connected to the 930-square-mile Atchafalaya Basin, where “Swamp People” follows alligator hunters in their trade, but it’s in the geographic footprint of the basin, and its swampy landscape mirrors the basin’s terrain.

“There is no question there is an uptick in interest across the country in the Atchafalaya Basin because of these reality shows, including ‘Swamp People,’ ” Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, who is in charge of promoting tourism in Louisiana, said during a phone interview from Baton Rouge. “There is an interest and fascination in the beauty of the Atchafalaya Basin and the characters they show on TV.”

The fascination with alligators also is part of the reason, said Ben Berthelot, executive director of the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission.

At this beginning of this year, Dardenne’s office used a $165,000 grant from the National Parks Service to post Atchafalaya National Heritage Area signs along roads such as Interstates 10 and 49, throughout the 14 parishes that include part of the basin.

De la Houssaye lived on a houseboat in the Atchafalaya Basin for nearly a decade until 1995. He said he hopes to soon leave Lake Martin’s tours to live again on a houseboat in the basin.

“Swamp People” is “the best thing that’s happened to swamp tours in 10 years,” he said. He’s seen many more people kayaking, canoeing, bird watching and exploring the basin in the past 10 years than he ever saw while living inside the basin’s levees.

“It doesn’t seem to have reached a plateau,” de la Houssaye said. “It’s like every year I see more and more people that are using the Atchafalaya Basin in nonconsumptive ways. Hunters and fishermen are consuming resources, but the large majority of the other people are nonconsumptive and aren’t bringing anything out of the basin except for their memories and some photographs.”

Like de la Houssaye, Jude Mequet, 26, lived on a houseboat in the basin. His father gave him a houseboat after graduating from high school, and Mequet lived on that boat from 2004 to 2008.

In February, Dardenne traveled to New York City where, for more than a week, he, “Swamp People” cast members, Louisiana wildlife experts and artisans promoted the state’s culture and tourism opportunities during an exhibit inside the Chelsea Market.

The exhibit included a 12,100-square-foot swamp ecosystem with live alligators and other animals to help drum up excitement for the season premier of “Swamp People.” The state spent $50,000 on the exhibit. The History Channel picked up the tab’s remainder.

During that exhibit, Dardenne’s office collected more than 11,000 email addresses from people who entered a contest to win a free trip to the Atchafalaya Basin.

“We’re talking about everyone from Wall Street suits to just general visitors in New York who wanted to come see the basin,” Dardenne said. “It’s unique to Louisiana, and we want to make sure it’s part of our outreach programs with tourism.”

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